Calculating Nitrogen percentage in food products.

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    Food Nitrogen
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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the challenges of measuring and controlling nitrogen levels in food packaging to ensure product quality and compliance with acceptable limits. Participants explore potential causes for occasional high nitrogen levels in packaged products, focusing on equipment, flow rates, and packaging integrity.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant notes a significant deviation in nitrogen levels at different flow rates, suggesting that higher flow rates yield more consistent results but still produce occasional high values.
  • Another participant recommends examining the equipment for potential issues.
  • Concerns are raised about possible pipe blockages or obstructions affecting nitrogen flow.
  • Questions are posed regarding whether the nitrogen used is pure or a mixture, and clarification is provided that it is 100% nitrogen gas.
  • Participants discuss measuring nitrogen levels in the packaging by assessing the oxygen percentage, indicating a method of testing for nitrogen presence.
  • One participant suggests investigating potential leaks in the packaging or defects in the product that could allow oxygen to enter.
  • Another participant speculates that excessive flow rates or prolonged processing times might lead to higher nitrogen levels, while questioning the role of leaks in this context.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express various hypotheses regarding the causes of high nitrogen levels, but there is no consensus on the specific factors contributing to the issue. Multiple competing views and suggestions remain unresolved.

Contextual Notes

Participants have not reached a conclusion on the exact causes of the nitrogen level deviations, and there are unresolved questions about the impact of flow rates, equipment integrity, and packaging quality.

brobertson89
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I just thought I would ask some people's opinions about this as I am stuck on what to do.

I am currently working for a food manufacturing company that pack their food with nitrogen gas to increase shelf life. However they have an acceptable limit of how much nitrogen can be within the product. Recently they have had some products that have come close to breaching this limit.

The trouble is they do not know why every so often one item does.

I took 100 samples of the products with two various nitrogen flow rates and it turns out that the deviation in the results of a higher flow rate is quite less then compared to the ones with a lower flow rate. However there still is the one or two randomly high values.

The flow rates i tested were 16 and 14 m^3 / h with a pressure of about 3 bar.

I am really stuck on what it could be. Does anyone have any ideas?
 
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Off hand I would suggest a careful study of the equipment being used.
 
Try getting the maintenance dept. to check for pipe blockages or obstructions, we have had this with some lines in the workshop recently
 
Are you guys using 100% nitrogen or a mixture of different gases?
Also, what do you mean by "how much nitrogen within the product"? The amount that gets absorbed by the food? The amount in the packaging?
 
Drakkith said:
Are you guys using 100% nitrogen or a mixture of different gases?
Also, what do you mean by "how much nitrogen within the product"? The amount that gets absorbed by the food? The amount in the packaging?

yes it is 100% nitrogen gas

it is a test of how much is in the packaging, we measure the oxygen percentage in the pack by putting a prob with a seal through the package
 
rc1102 said:
Try getting the maintenance dept. to check for pipe blockages or obstructions, we have had this with some lines in the workshop recently

sorry i forgot to mention that we have done this, my other guess is that there may be leakages in the pipe work
 
I have decided my next cause of action is to find out whether the packages have holes in them and this is the cause or to see whether the product has defects which are entrapping oxygen and then braking whilst within the packaging, releasing the oxygen.


What do you think, are these possible causes?
 
I really don't know, but it sounds like you are either getting too much flow rate or the process is going on for slightly too long, causing more nitrogen to build up. A leak wouldn't let ONLY the oxygen out.
 

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